Wow, I can’t believe that we have been married a whole year! It doesn’t seem like 12 months have gone by but they have. At this exact time last year I was asleep trying to get rest before the big day ahead of me. I remember I had a stomach ache that night, I think it was my nerves because there was a good chance of rain, and I got married outside, out in the open, under a gazebo that we spent a lot of money decorating with flowers. If it rained it would have forced us to have the ceremony in the reception room which would have been the worst thing that could happen because I planned an outdoor wedding, with the sun setting, wind blowing, and you know the rest.
Many people don’t know this but you know how somethings are bound to go wrong at your wedding, well one pretty big thing went wrong- and it’s pretty ironic what. Out of alllll the brides gowns my grandmother has made/ altered/ busselled, my dress of all dresses decides first of all that it isn’t going to bussell and as my poor grandma tried to fix that right before we were announced to the reception, she noticed that the bottom of my zipper had split open, I didn’t panic, we did our first dance and right after I slipped into a room where she proceeded to try and close up the bottom of my zipper when the whole zipper split, as in zipper is no longer sewn onto the dress on one side!! OMG I was a little concerned, okay a lot concerned, WHAT AM I GOING TO DO???? Then the awesome Summit House staff came to the rescue with 2 needles and thread- I threaded them, because I had the best eyes in the room and my grandma sewed up and my hairstylist came to assist and she sewed down, they met in the middle and my dress was sewed shut. Nobody even noticed, my poor grandma almost had a heart attack, I went out and enjoyed the rest of the night. (Let me just clarify my grandma didn’t make my dress, It is a Pronovias La Sposa, and it was fine, we think it got snagged when we zipped it up that day…so it couldn’t have split at a better time really.)
The only thing I cared about that day was that it didn’t rain and It didn’t, It was a beautiful day! I was so grateful for the sun that my dress splitting open wasn’t going to phase me….Needless to say I didn’t pee the entire night, and once we got to the hotel Jason literally had to cut my dress off! I look at my photos and I love that day, I loved our wedding, all of the hard work, the blood, sweat and tears were all worth it, because I can look back at my amazing photos and film and they take me back to that beautiful sunny day, it was perfect….
And just like that a year has passed! We can’t believe how fast! This year has been great, we have enjoyed being married, eachother, and doing whatever we want….as in we aren’t responsible for another person- yet…We are going to enjoy our summer, go camping, sleep in, go on last minute trips, and then we will see where this next year takes us….into parenthood perhaps?? That’s exactly where our family wants us to go! We want to go there too, but we don’t exactly have it all planned out so we will just have to wait and see….I swear not a day goes by that someone doesn’t tell me to hurry up and have a baby… Today it was my sister, over the phone as she was in a store looking at baby clothes. Maybe we will shut them up this year? Haha- my dad already has a nickname picked out! I would like to say to Jason, who is probably the only one who will read this, Happy Anniversary! I am blessed to have you as my husband, you have a big heart, you are caring, loving, thoughtful, I can’t imagine my life without you, and I look forward to our future, I love you! Year 2- here we come!
Since I didn’t have my blog last year to blab about the details of our wedding I have done so here. I was going for a classic feel for the wedding, I wanted everything to be timeless as in I won’t look at my album in 10 or 20 years and say omg why did I pick that!? I went with simple, elegant, classic, with a vintage feel, because I feel certain vintage styles are classic. Originally I wanted a certain goldish greenish tone for the dresses, it was impossible to find last year so I went with a pale yellow, which echoed in the flowers, the printing, and the groomsmen ties. Everything else was ivory with pops of black here and there.
The details:
Flowers: Commerce Flowers, The BEST! lots of orchids cymbidiums, oncidiums, and phaleonopsis (my favorite) 2 big ones in my hair, ranunculus, dahlias, roses, hydrangea, they were beautiful, I did a mixture of tall and short arrangements on the tables, the tall were in glass cylinders full of water and a sweet orchid inside and the big arrangement on top stretching high with oncidiums and black twigs that I don’t know the proper name for, the short arrangements were in black urns. The gazebo was decorated beautifully, I loved it, and my favorite little detail were the strung white orchids that swayed in the breeze!
Dress: Pronovias- La Sposa – Spanish style dress, fitted with a small train, top fully beaded and bottom fully beaded, it was heavy! I tried on about 12 dresses, it was the last one, my mom and sister loved it, I loved it, done deal! I wasn’t the girl who went to 12 places to try on 100 dresses, It was an easy decision for me. My priorities were straight and I wanted to buy a beautiful gown in a certain style that fit me well at a good price and that is exactly what I got, at an amazing price which helped my decision making process I’m sure….I’m a smart shopper people, it runs in my blood. I’m sure most brides don’t think about the deal they’re getting so much, but it gets me excited!
Shoes: Jimmy Choo— just kidding 
How bout Chinese Laundry 4 or 5 inch platforms- $15 found by my mother, the most comfortable shoes I own!! I was prepared to pay hundreds for the right shoes, I was going online and had my eye on some Kate Spade platforms. They had to be platforms, and they had to be high because my dress was long and we weren’t going to hem it, with the entire bottom beaded it would have been crazy to take off an inch or two. One day my mom handed me a box with these sexy satin off white peep toe platforms with an ankle strap and bling buckle!!! PERFECT! I told you it runs in my blood
Veil: Spanish style mantilla handmade by Cuca- shes like famliy! She Cut the material to the length I wanted (fingertip), took out the beads that the lace trim had and replaced them one by one with beads of my choice, dyed the veil to give it that vintage color…..It was heavy and beautiful and I will cherish it forever, the veil being handmade by our long time family friend who I have grown up with and worked with for many years, seeing her on a daily and retired right after my wedding, I hold the veil close to my heart, it is priceless!
Venue: The Summit House Restaurant in Fullerton- Love this place and the staff, they were amazing! The food is to die for!! Food was high on my priorities, It’s a great surprise to go to a wedding and have exceptional food, not the same old dish….the hors deorves were delish…even though I didn’t get to enjoy them really, I know that our guests loved them, they were passed out to our guests, coconut shrimp, brushcetta with some kind of mango salsa spread, tender beef squewers, and I forget the other one. Dinner was amazing, the cream corn is a reason to go there! The portions were very generous, with all of the appetizers, and dinner people were more than satisfied.
Bridesmaids wore BCBG, silk, long, pale yellow gowns that I love in my photos- they were the most beautiful bridesmaids I’ve ever seen! They all wore gold shoes of their choice and I made them all matching yellow crystal necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. My maid of Honor, My sister Natalie wore a dress that was a bit different and I made her two special bracelets and chandelier earrings. She gave the most touching beautiful toast that made everyone cry, mostly her—she even got a tear out of me! I can only hope to give one half as good at her wedding.
My Jewelry: I started off with simple small earrings, changed into my own creations of crystal and pearl chandelier earrings I made the night before, I wore my grandmothers old pearl bracelet, and also a Nadri bracelet I bought myself, and a ring my mother gave me when I graduated college. I did have something old, new, borrowed, and blue….
Photography: Bob Ortiz Photography, I chose him for his many years of experience and his classic style, he also knew how to handle my crazy family:)
Film: Renaissance- LOVE THEM, Chrissy shot the wedding and I can’t say enough nice things about her, she was amazing, and put up with my crazy requests until the end, a husband and wife team, I only dealt with wife and she is the sweetest person!
Favors: frosted with black damask tea light holders, and take home photo booth pictures
Cake: I wanted it simple and sweet and thats what it was, made by Luz who taught me how to decorate cakes. Let’s face it the cake gets eaten and digested within minutes it is gone- It wasn’t a major player in my decor, Ironic being that I love beautifully decorated cakes, so much so that I learned how to decorate them myself, I love food networks challenges, all the cake shows, I love decorating cakes, I appreciate the time and creativity that goes into a fine cake but I know most people don’t and for my budget the cake was not high on my list. I wanted it to be pretty, and tasty and thats what I got, again, for an amazing price!
Printing of menus, favor tags, programs and Table cards: my printer with the help of the custom design monogram of our initials with the damask and colors I picked by: Print my Party
Name cards were supposed to be computer printed but when none of us could figure it out, I ended up hand writing each one in calligraphy, they came out very nice.
I wanted to make the day beautiful on our budget and I think we did a great job, it looked like we had a bigger budget than we did, quite a few guests say it was the best wedding they’d been to, and that is what I wanted a memorable day for our family and friends and for us, we had an amazing time !! Good people, good food, good music, just a great time and I would do it all over again if I could….
